REGULATION
Congress is not interested in your air travel discomfort
Airlines can keep shrinking airplane seats without breaking any laws. That’s the result of a recent House vote that was part of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s amendments to a bill to fund the Federal Aviation Administration.
“I am disappointed,” said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. “This was a vote against the safety and health of airline passengers,” he added, referring to the 26-33 defeat of a bill that would have asked for standard seating space on passenger jets.
The average seat width has shrunk by 1.5 inches in more than 40 years. Seats were 18 inches wide in 1970, but now they’re about 16.5 inches. Cohen said the FAA is putting passengers at risk because there hasn’t been enough emergency evacuation testing for seating where rows are set with a pitch of under 29 inches, referring to the distance between any point on one seat to the seat in front of it.
“We’re down to four major carriers and they do what they want,” Cohen said.
Washington airline lobbyist group Airlines for America said in a statement that “competition should determine what is offered,” and not government.
“Customers vote every day with their wallet,” the group added.
Cohen vows to keep fighting for regulation, adding that airlines seats are “getting smaller and smaller” and “are hard to get out of.” — Joana Suleiman
BUREAUCRACY
Federal agencies out of touch with their customers
Government needs to improve the way it gathers and uses customer data. That’s the conclusion of a new report by the Partnership for Public Service and Accenture, a professional services company, which examined 12 agencies with a high level of direct contact with citizens.
Satisfaction with the federal government has continued to decline for three straight years, according a 2015 American Customer Satisfaction Index, which was cited in the report, titled “Government for the People.” In 2015, the federal government received an ACSI score of 63.9 out of 100 — the lowest score in nine years. Customer satisfaction reports are not giving agencies a clear and complete picture of the issue, the report said. Agencies also are not efficient about sharing data internally and externally, the report found.
“There was a little bit of a gap between the perception agencies had, that gave themselves an average grade of about a ‘B,’ and the perception that the public has in terms of the quality that they receive from the government,” said Kathy Conrad, director of digital government at Accenture, during an interview with Tom Temin on Federal Drive.
Agencies need to gather feedback from customers continuously, immediately after interactions, and not just once a year, as they do now. “They’re not sufficient,” Conrad said. The data is also failing to represent the real perceptions the customers have. Tom Allin, chief veterans experience officer at the Veterans Affairs Department, highlighted this discrepancy. “We’ve been asking the questions we think must be important. We haven’t asked our veterans what’s important to them.”
The report also suggested improvements in workforce management. Agencies must screen candidates for customer service experience and provide adequate training and tools to understand and meet the needs of citizens. — Joana Suleiman
EDUCATION
Ed. secretary grilled over department priorities
Members of the House Education & the Workforce Committee grilled Acting Education Secretary John King for more than two hours on Feb. 24 on the department’s budget and priorities for President Obama’s final year in office.
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., criticized Obama’s College Scorecard, calling it a misleading, top-down system. Hillsdale College, located in Walberg’s district, is one of many schools excluded because it doesn’t take federal or state government money. King said they’re working to include more schools. “It’s important to know the scorecard is not a rating system,” King said.
“But it ends up being a rating system,” Walberg replied, since some schools are excluded.
Republicans weren’t the only ones pressuring King. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., questioned the lack of accountability for public charter schools, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds. “Ultimately, charters, we see as one path to innovation, among many,” King said. “In our charter school program we are focused on helping states strengthen their authorizers.”
King took over from the retiring Arne Duncan in 2016. His formal nomination was heard by the Senate Health, Education Labor & Pensions Committee on Thursday. — Jason Russell
